I’ve discovered that there’s an entry about me in Grokipedia, and since I am the world’s leading expert in all things regarding Sue Burke, I took a look. Wow, 4,500 words, more than I think I’m worth. I don’t recommend you check it out, though. Let me explain why.
In case you haven’t heard of it, Grokipedia describes itself as “an AI-generated online encyclopedia operated by the American company xAI.” Elon Musk created the project because he believed Wikipedia had been influenced by the “woke mind virus.” Grokipedia asserts a commitment to neutrality in its AI-curated outputs, claiming to deliver “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” through an automated synthesis aligned with objective knowledge representation.
But it’s an AI, so it possesses only an illusion of understanding — and a recognized tendency for overstatement. I have “growing recognition,” “earned accolades” and “professional accolades” as well as “significant recognition” and a “growing reputation in the field.” Such flattery!
But there are errors. Here are a few.
It says I won the American Translators Association Lewis Galantière Prize in 2010. I did not. I checked the footnote, and what I think happened is that my name and the prize were both mentioned on the same page of an ATA magazine (see photo). Proximity amounts to correlation for an AI.
The entry says, “In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Burke relocated briefly to Austin, Texas.” During those “brief” years — actually, during all the years from 1955 to 1998 — I lived in Milwaukee. I lived in Austin from 1998 to 1999.
Since there was no internet until the 1990s, Grokipedia has little to say about the first four decades of my life, although I assure you I was busy.
It says I published either “more than 40 short stories” (correct) or “about 25.”
It also slightly misstates a whole lot of things, and it invents causal connections that don’t exist. For example, it says that certain freelance jobs “significantly refined Burke’s stylistic precision and narrative voice.” Not true. I got those jobs because I already had the skills.
The AI tries very hard to create a narrative, so it adds cause and effect everywhere it can. In reality, my life has had a somewhat random quality to it. Things happened, and then I tried to make the best of the changed circumstances. There was no masterplan.
Grokipedia’s AI also tries to draw unwarranted conclusions. It says, “Burke keeps her family life private” and “no children are mentioned in available biographical accounts,” suggesting that I do have children, I just don’t tell anyone about them. Most people have children, so statistically I do too, right? In fact, I have talked about my family life, although there’s not always much to say. Children are one of life’s great adventures, and if I had them, they would be the smartest, best, most talented children in the world, and I would never tire of telling you about them.
My husband read my Grokipedia entry, and he had one good thing to say about it: “Now you don’t have to create a fake resume. The AI made one for you.”
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